Hearing sensitivity of adults with cleft lip and/or palate

This study is designed to investigate the hearing sensitivity of adults with repaired clefts of the lip and/or palate or congenital velopharyngeal inadequacy (VPI). Hearing sensitivity was analyzed with respect to pure tone air conduction thresholds and the extent of air bone gap. In addition to age, type of cleft and type of physical management of the palate were taken into account. The results of the study indicated that the thresholds of individuals with clefts of the palate or VPI exceeded normal limits. There were no significant differences in thresholds among the four types of palatal clefts or among the types of physical management of the palates.